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Greenlee: Caution! Off-ramp ahead?

By Bob Greenlee

Posted:
12/09/2012 01:00:00 AM MST

Boulder's grand municipalization adventure continues gaining momentum while sucking up lots of energy and loads of cash for outside lawyers and consultants. Last month the city adopted a number of "metrics" to guide policy makers in taking any "off ramp" this coming March. By then council will decide, if they haven't already, whether to continue pursuing their long fantasized municipalization dreams.

A number of concerned citizens recently addressed the city's proposed metrics before they were approved. Roger Koenig, a thoughtful critic of the city's muni scheme, said the metrics were "rigged" and "set a low bar" while measuring the wrong things. Councilman Ken Wilson said the metrics were "too general" and did not offer decision-makers with rigorous standards in making critical business decisions. He offered a number of reasonable amendments but a majority of council members offered no support.

City staff and council members often discuss municipalization in the context of whether or not the city "could" create its own electric utility instead of if it "should." This is a false choice because it's too easy to rig the results on whether or not one "could" create a muni versus whether it "should." One could jump out of an airplane at 10,000 feet without a parachute. (Not a great idea.) Therefore, the issue is never about what one could do but always about whether one should. Council's plastic food bag "fee" is an example of imposing something on people because the city could; not just because it was anything it should do just to help some people feel environmentally virtuous.

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Unfortunately, pursuing preferred outcomes is what politicians and activists always do and right now it seems the momentum favors implementing the muni scheme although many critical issues remain unresolved.

One of those issues is how to separate the electric distribution system from the one that currently serves the city limits as well as the greater Boulder region. Some believe this might require forced annexations and Colorado is one of few states that permit taking private property for the "public good." Of course Boulder claims there are no immediate plans to annex anyone although many people don't believe anything the city ever tells them.

The most troubling thing is that the city has no idea how much the whole muni plan is going to cost or at least has not gone public with its estimates. Discovering what the price tag will be is the reason policy makers might drive past an off-ramp in March and approve spending even more time and money in the years to come. City staff has already demonstrated its unreliability and naivete when they once promised citizens they would not owe Xcel Energy one red cent in "stranded costs" if the city condemned Xcel's local electric grid. In addition, the city may never have told citizens about the Public Utilities Commission recent ruling that it may need: "...to put Boulder customers on notice regarding the possibility of them bearing additional costs associated with municipalization."This is a matter most people know nothing about. It involves the fact that city taxpayers may be on the hook to reimburse Xcel for all costs it will rack up in addressing and fighting the city's muni scheme. It will likely be in the tens of millions of dollars and whether the city has a plan to address this costly situation is uncertain. It will be difficult for the PUC not to require local taxpayers to reimburse Xcel for its expenses when Xcel asks the PUC to increase rates for all its customers in order to pay the huge costs of fighting Boulder's actions. Not doing so would be totally unfair to customers not possessed by Boulder's municipalization dreams.

Utility customers -- particularly business interests -- need to pay close attention and more fully understand what's at stake and what risks lie ahead.

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